Bayern Munich proves too strong for Unicaja

Bayern Munich returned to its winning ways with an 82-68 victory at home over Unicaja Malaga in the. Malcolm Delaney led the way with 19 points – making 14 of 15 free throws – as Munich improved to 3-1 in Group C. Nihad Djedovic added 16 points and 9 rebounds for Bayern and Robin Benzing chipped in 13. The hosts dominated the rebounds 46-35 and forced Unicaja into poor shooting numbers. Malaga dropped to 2-2 in the group. Jayson Granger led the way with 14 points in defeat, Earl Calloway added 12 and Ryan Toolson 11.

First quarter: Delaney scores 8 in building double-digit Bayern lead

Bayern coach Svetislav Pesic did not make any changes to his starting lineup with Delaney, Djedovic, Benzing, Boris Savovic and John Bryant. Unicaja coach Joan Plaza, who was without Nik Caner-Medley and Txemi Urtasun, replaced Caner-Medley in the starting lineup with Vladimir Stimac alongside Calloway, Zoran Dragic, Mindaugas Kuzminskas and Rafael Hettsheimer. Dragic started the scoring with a driving layup with Benzing nailed a triple for Bayern’s first points of the game. Malaga was back ahead 3-4 after a Stimac tip-in. Bryant gave Munich the lead and a Benzing runner and two Delaney foul shots put the hosts ahead 9-4. Calloway came back down and knocked down a three-ball and a Stimac basket inside against Bryant had Unicaja within 11-9. Benzing answered with a wild three-pointer and Malaga went cold from the field. After some bad rotation on defense, Bryant was wide open down low for a dunk and Delaney converted a three-point play as Bayern pushed the lead to double digits 19-9 with three minutes left in the first. Delaney followed that with a long three from straight on to extend the advantage to 22-11. Four Jayson Granger foul shots were matched by a Heiko Schaffartzik driving layup and a Bryce Taylor jumper as Bayern led 26-15 after one quarter.

Second quarter: Hosts extend lead to 17, but give up 6 late points

Granger started the second quarter with a jumper but the Bayern reserves kept up the defensive intensity while Lucca Staiger knocked down a trey from the right wing and Taylor got out on the break for an easy dunk as the lead grew to 33-17. Ryan Toolson stopped the bleeding with a three-pointer and Coach Pesic immediately called a timeout with his team up 33-20. Benzing hit one free throw but Hettsheimeir answered with a foul shot and a basket in transition before a Granger driving layup had Unicaja back in the game down 34-25 – with Pesic calling another timeout. Djedovic stopped the Unicaja surge with a floater in the lane to get it to 36-25. After Savovic hit an inside basket, Delaney added two free throws and then Heiko Schaffartzik nailed a three-pointer on the break as the Munich cushion grew to 43-26 with a 9-1 spurt. Malaga forced three turnovers in the closing moments of the first half and turned them into transition layups by Sergi Vidal, Calloway and Dragic to get Malaga within 43-32 at the break.

Third quarter: Malaga misses chance to cut deficit to single digits

Bayern played aggressive defense coming out of the break and easily produced offense with Bryant scoring inside to open the third quarter and then dishing to Djedovic for a layup to give the hosts a 49-32 lead. Calloway finally scored for Malaga with two free throws more than three minutes into the half. Calloway sank a jumper and then a three-ball to trim the deficit to 51-39. Hettsheimeir scored four points and Dragic made two free throws to narrow the gap to 56-45. Schaffartzik hit a long three-ball to push the lead back to 14 points before two foul shots by Granger and Carlos Suarez made it 59-49 with two minutes left. Djedovic got the Munich crowd into the game with a long ball to get the lead to 64-51, but Toolson answered right back with a trey of his own. Suarez missed a chance to cut the game to single digits with a missed layup. With the shot clock winding down, Taylor was forced to throw up a long three that banked off the glass to give Bayern a 67-54 lead after three quarters.

Fourth quarter: Bayern finish off Malaga after guests get to within 7

Chevon Troutman opened the fourth quarter for Bayern but Granger and Toolson hit back-to-back baskets to get the margin back to 11 points. Granger hit another layup and Suarez’s trey from the left wing made it a 10-point game – 73-63 – with six minutes to play. Delaney was off with his jumper and Toolson came back at the other end and drained a long ball from the left side to make it 73-66 with 5:09 to play. Djedovic, however, responded with a trey from the right corner for a 76-66 lead. Benzing worked hard on the glass and got two offensive rebounds to keep the ball in Bayern’s hands. Benzing then made two free throws with three minutes left for a 78-66 advantage. After Hettsheimeir split a pair of free throws, Fran Vazquez missed two attempts at the basket that would have cut the deficit to nine points with two minutes to play. Vidal split two free throws with one minute to make it 78-68 but Djedovic put back an offensive rebound and Taylor knocked down two free throws to finish off the game.